Wow am I lax. Good intentions leading to a blase attitude, truly. It’s probably because for a while there my braces were just pieces of metal attached to my teeth. Nothing was happening, nothing worth writing about. My orthodontist says that’s common, you get dramatic changes at first and then things slow and are more subtle. So if that happens to you, don’t sweat it.

Does it stay that way forever? Well obviously I’m only 9 months into this journey so I couldn’t answer the forever question, but it doesn’t even stay that way for long. I finally got a bracket on that one last tooth and then came the placid period. Then…enter the power chains. They’re like your normal ligs, but on 1 attached chain spanning multiple teeth and they put extra pressure on those teeth so your orthodontist can manipulate the teeth the way they want.

During the adjustment before last I received two of the things on my top arch. Changes were dramatic and nearly overnight. 1 remaining crooked tooth rotated and straightened within days. The pain…well lots of change brings lots of pain. It’s a good diet tool! Cleaning? That’s where things get interesting. I’ve always describing flossing with lingual braces as trying to sew in a straight line with your eyes closed and having power chains makes it more like trying to sew through numerous layers of fabric and needing to find just the right hole–all with your eyes closed. It’s a challenge. I’ve jabbed my gums with more floss and interproximital brushes in the last 7 weeks than I ever want to think about.

During my last adjustment they switched things up a bit, just 1 powerchain on the top and 2 on the bottom. You can’t even see the ones on the bottom, the clear chain is quite clear; I had to do some poking about to even figure out where they were. I’ll have to see how well it holds up to staining though!

It’s been less than 24 hours and my one last stubborn tooth on the top is almost fully rotated and on the bottom a gap between two teeth is nearly closed. They really do produce changes fast, but with the pain to accompany them. If your ortho says they’re putting on powerchains, I highly recommend taking some IBU right away and just keeping it up for a couple days. These suckers hurt more than when I initially got my braces on.

6 weeks until my next adjustment, I can’t wait now. The words “finishing wire” were uttered. It doesn’t mean I’m done ( I guess I could be in that wire for a good long time), it just means the 18 to 24 month sentence treatment period I was given might actually fall towards the lower end rather then going over. And here I was cautioning myself to expect a long term, not a short one!

It’s been rather quiet in braces land of late. Most of the initial pain settled down, although I’m still as addicted to wax as ever. However, time since my 1st adjustment has rushed by at an amazing rate and low and behold the time for my second adjustment arrived. This adjustment filled me with both excitement and trepidation. Excitement because I love knowing how things are progressing and because I was hoping to get a new wire on the top and bottom arches; once again I would be able to see changes of the dramatic sort rather than the fractional changes that my movements have slowed down to. I was feeling trepidation, though, because, once again, I was going to have to endure the dreaded tooth dust.

See, two of my more dramatically crooked teeth were tilted outward and upward in such a way that getting a bracket on was next to impossible. They just barely managed to get one on the right tooth but the left was impossible, it had to shift into place some before they could. So I’ve been waiting, watching as my teeth slowly straightened. It’s been painstaking, but in a way some of the most dramatic changes I’ve experienced, as these were the most noticeably crooked teeth in my mouth as well. Today was supposed to be the day I could finally get that last bracket on. The tooth would have to be etched before placement (tooth dust!), but still, I would finally have a full set.

Sadly, though, it was not to be. The tooth hasn’t shifted enough to allow for the placement of the bracket, causing me much sadness and worry that my 18 – 24 month sentence er treatment period may trend towards the latter end of the estimate. This also meant the placement of a dreaded open coil spring.

What is an open coil spring you ask? Well you can look here, but basically, it’s just that, a spring. It’s on the arch wire attached to the brackets on either side of the problem child tooth, exerting force to help move that tooth into place. It’s shifted pretty dramatically since I started down this path, in fact unless you look closely you can’t really tell it’s crooked (whereas originally it was noticeable at even the most casual glance), but it’s still kind of up at an angle:

for anyone wondering, this is also what it looks like when I smile, so you can see the lack of visibility with the linguals and just the teeniest bit of viability with the ceramic bottom arch, which unless you’re up close and personal really isn’t visible unless you know they’re there

So I get to experience 6 weeks of a spring rubbing against my tongue. Joy! Well, this irritation will be a good training ground for elastics, I hear those aren’t exactly comfortable either.

I did succeed in getting a new wire on the bottom, though. Between the coil on the top and the new wire on the bottom, just 6 hours later and I’m already getting that uncomfortable, someone punched me feeling that I got the day the brackets were placed. Time for some soft foods, ice and a pain killer.

One tip for anyone getting an adjustment that necessitates the removal of your wire…bring floss! Remember when flossing only took a minute rather than 20? Well with your wire out once again it can take just a minute and you can really do a good job! With lingual brackets especially, flossing is often an exercise in frustration (it’s like trying to sew an intricate straight line without being able to see what you’re doing), so enjoy being able to do so without any impediments. Once my braces are off I will never again complain that flossing is a hassle. I never knew how good I had it pre-braces.